The developer and formulator of surfactants for hard surface cleaning must consider a wide variety of possibilities with limited (sometimes inconsistent) information, and then strive to provide overall improvements in one or more of a whole array of criteria, including performance in the presence of free calcium in complex mixtures of surfactants and polymers, e.g. cationic polymers, formulation changes, enzymes, various changes in consumer habits and practices, and the need for biodegradability.
Further, hard surface cleaning should employ materials that enhance the tolerance of the system to hardness, especially to avoid the precipitation of the calcium salts of anionic surfactants. Precipitation of the calcium salts of anionic surfactants is known to cause unsightly deposits on hard surfaces, especially dark hard surfaces. In addition, precipitation of surfactants can lead to losses in performance as a result of the lower level of available cleaning agent. In the context provided by these preliminary remarks, the development of improved alkylbenzene sulfonates for use in hard surface cleaning compositions is clearly a complex challenge. The present invention relates to improvements in such surfactant compositions.
It is an aspect of the present invention to provide mixtures of the modified alkylbenzene sulfonate surfactant mixtures which are formulatable to provide cleaning compositions having one or more advantages, including greater product stability at low temperatures, increased resistance to water hardness, greater efficacy in surfactant systems, filming and streaking, improved removal of greasy or particulate body soils, and the like.